Stan’s Pizza Joint: Burnaby British Columbia

Tuesday evening, later than usual, we find ourselves searching for a place to eat and one of our favourite restaurants comes to mind. La Vita Bella in Burnaby. This restaurant, family owned and operated is never too far of a hike for us. So believing this place is owed a review, as the last three times we visited it was great, we make the trek out with Italian food on our minds. Parking around back and walking around to the front we notice it was closed. Closed on a Tuesday? Odd day to be closed, especially when both SJ and I felt like some hot focaccia bread with homemade tapenade. Damn Tuesdays!! So staring at the closed sign like two lost puppies and craving Italian we scoped out the surrounding establishments. Located across the street we noticed a place boasting pizza....Stan’s pizza joint...close enough to Italian and fast...being as hungry as we were at this point we would have gone for anything!! Walking into this place, it offers no real character, nothing special, just a few tables and chairs, and a bar located in the back by the kitchen. Really just a typical fast food pizza joint. After taking a peek around for a suitable piece of realty to sit down on, we were greeted by our server. Friendly and efficient, she dropped off the menu and took our drink orders with ease. Arriving a few minutes later with our drinks she took our dinner order... for the only person serving she was very proficient and knowledgeable, didn’t waste time and was polite.

As I mentioned SJ and I were famished, so ordering the medium size of The Joint Full Load pizza, priced at a mere $13.00, didn’t scare either of us. As we waited for our food to arrive a bunch of younger adults walked in and took a table next to us. Watching the TV’s hanging on the walls we collectively laughed at the comedy network, which was cleverly playing to entertain us. When our pizza arrived, the waitress noticed we were missing chillies and parmesan cheese, so she swiftly grabbed two shakers from another table and brought them to us. Gazing upon our pizza, SJ and I couldn’t help but notice it was, just as the menu suggested, LOADED with toppings. Not like other pizza places that mention items on the pizza but give you 10 small pieces to spread evenly on a large pizza....this was loaded and smelled heavenly. Not wasting another moment, we dove in and devoured the first slice. The crust was crispy yet the inside tender and fluffy, kind of like the crust you get when ordering a pan pizza at pizza hut.

The toppings were fresh and as I mentioned before, very plentiful. SJ not being the chicken lover I am, commented that the pizza would have been better without the chicken as it dulled the bite of the pizza sauce. I concurred, that although the pizza was damn good, it could have done with a tad more oomph in the sauce to offset the bland chicken. Leaving the plate almost empty, and with our stomachs about to burst, we rolled out of the joint and wobbled to our car...

Overall experience: Very good. With the combination of an attentive server, a great pizza and a fast meal this place will be visited again should we feel like a good pizza at an amazing price.

Location visited: 4527 Hastings Street

Ratings:

Ambiance: Pizza Joint / Casual
Cuisine: Pizza
Presentation: Average
Price: $13/serving
Service: Above Average
Value: Great



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